Music Feature

Cheers Elephant: Doin' It Right!

Cheers Elephant talk a bit about their new album and shine a little light on how it came about.

You may have seen Cheers Elephant's "Doin It Right" video floating around the internet drawing you in to their new album "Like Wind Blows Fire", which was released May 8th. This catchy song is definitely an accurate representation of what will be found on their new record. Labeling their band's sound as "Chew it up, Spit it out Rock and Roll" was a product of tiring of the constant "What do you guys sound like" question, but is an often repeated description. To these guys, their sound can be identified as sometimes poppy on a recording but raw when played live.

With a friendship dating back to elementary school, the guys started their first bands together, even resulting in Kingsly and Derek handing in an album as a graduation project. At that point they suggested Matt get a bass to play with them. "I didn't know what a bass was but my birthday was coming up and here I am!" jokes Matt. They weren't always playing that upbeat 60's inspired music you can associate them with now, though. They admitted to playing NOFX inspired pop-punk when they first started playing music, labeling it as easy to play. When college came around the guys all went their separate ways but their return is what produced Cheers Elephant. The band's original lead guitarist played on a few tracks on the first album before moving to Canada to further pursue his music career. It was perfect timing that Jordan had just moved from upstate New York and Derek described him as "the ideal fit for the group".

Credit can be given to inspirations such as the beatles for the forming of Cheers Elephant. "We came off the back end of being awakend, you can say, or very much inspired by discovering the beatles and a whole new element of music that i wasnt a part of growing up so much. It definitely correlated with a certain time in my life." says Derek of his introduction to the beatles sound. "Pretty much Kingsly was discovering the same things at the same time and Jordan and Matt had been there already at that point. To sit down and listen to a Beatles album is a whole new experience" Another obvious influence and common comparison would be The Kinks, which the boys love. listening to their records it is obvious they are a 60's inspired band but they say they aren't trying for a specific sound, they're just writing what they think sounds good. As long as you'e not comparing them to an 80's band, Cheers Elephant are happy.

Being generally based in the Philadelphia area, they adapt to what they call the "less pretentious" sound of Philly, saying they are a product of their environment. With previous sold out Philly shows on their shoulders there are some pretty great expectations of Cheers Elephant being held. Trying not to take themselves too seriously, Cheer Elephant explain the new record as a "polished, crisp sounding album. High fidelity all the way". For more information on the band and updates on upcoming shows check out www.cheerselephant.com.